/// n/^ x>^ty//-j r //. THE PLAYS OP WILLIAiM SHAKSPEARE. VOLUME THE TENTH. CONTAINING I MACBETH. KING JOHN. LONDON: Printed tor J. Johnson, R. Baldwin, H. L. Gardner, W. J. and J. Richardson, J. Nichols and Son, F. and C. Rivington, T. Payne, R. Faulder, G. and J. Robinson, W. Lowndes, ' G. Wilkie, J. Scatcherd, T. Egerton, J, Walker, W. Clarke and Son, J. Barker and Son, D. Ogilvy and Son, Cuthell and Martin, R. Lea, P. Macqueen, J. Nunn, Lackington, Allen and Co. T. Kay, J. Deighton, J. White, W. Miller, Vernor and Hood, D.Walker, 3. Crosby and Co. Longman and Rees, Cadell and Davies, T. Hurst, J. Kirding, R. H. Evans, S. Bagster, J. Mawman, Blacks and Parry, R. Bent, J. Badcock, J. Asperne, and T. OsteU. 1803. \^.n"^. [J. PLYMSEit, Printer, Leather Lane, Holbom, London.] M A C B E T H,^ Vol. X. B • * Macbeth.] In order to make a true eftimnie of the abilities and merit of a writer, it is always necelihry to examine the genius of his age, and the opinions of his contemporaries. A poet who fliould now make the whole aftion of his tragedy depend upon enchantment, and produce the chief events by the alfiftance of fupernatural agents, would be cenfured as tranf- grelhng the bounds of probability, be baniihed from the theatre to the nurfery, and condemned to write fairy tales inftead of tragedies ; but a furvey of the notions that prevailed at the time ■when this play was written, will prove that Shakfpeare was in no danger of fuch cenfures, lince he only turned the fyftem that was then nniverfally admitted, to his advantage, and was far from overburdening the credulity of his audience. The reality of witchcraft or enchantment, which, though not ftrictly the fame, are confounded in this play, has in all ages and countries been credited by the common people, and in moll, by the learned themfelves. The phantoms have indeed appeared more frequently, in proportion as the darknefs of ignorance has been more grofs 5 but it cannot be fliown, that the brightefl gleams of knowledge have at any time been fufficient to drive them out of the world. The time in which this kind of credu- lity was at its height, feems to have been that of the holy war, in which the Chriltians imputed all their defeats to enchant- ments or diabolical oppofition, as they afcribed their fuccefs to the alhllance of their military faints ; and the learned Dr. War- burton appears to believe {Si/pplcweiit to the Inlroduciion to Don Qfddofi') that the tiiil accounts of enchantments were brought into this part of the world by thofe who returned from their ealtern expeditions. But there is always fome diitance between the birth and maturity of folly as of wickednefs : this opinion had long exifled, though perhaps the application of it had in no foregoing age been fo fre(]uent, nor the reception fo general. Olympiodorus, in Photius's ExtraSls, tells us of one Libanhts, who pra6tifed this kind of military magic, and having promifed X^'P^^ citXilxv -/.arx. j3ccp'^cioiv/ h£cj's7v, to perform great thi?igs againjt the Barbarians without Jhldiers, was, at the in- ftance of the emprefs Placida, put to death, when he was about to have given proofs of his abilities. The emprels Ihowed fome kindnefs in her anger, by cutting him off at a time fo convenient for his reputation. But a more remarkable proof of the antiquity of this notion may be found in St. Chryfoilom's book de Sacerdotio, whick exhibits a fcene of enchantments not exceeded by any romance of the middle age : he fuppofes a fpedator overlooking" a iield B2 of battle attended by one that points out all the various obje6ls of horror, the engines of deftrudion, and the arts of daughter, Asiy.vvro $a tri Ttapx rolg havllots Ktz) 'Kero^.ivsg 'lititsg $ia, rivog [j.afya.v£lcc$, kcu oTtAlrag St'c/J^os (pspo^Avug, kcci Trdo-YjV yor^rsla; SjvuiMv aa) 'iSsav. Let him then proceed to Jhoiv him in the oppnjite arviies horfes ,fiiji»g iy enchantment, armed men tranf- ported through the air, and every poiver and form of vi agio. Whether St. Chryfoftoni believed that luch performances were really to be feen iu a day of battle, or only endeavoured to en- liven his defcription, by adopting the notions of the vulgar, it is equally certain, diat fuch notions were in his time received, and that therefore they were not imported from the Saracens in a later age j the wars with the Saracens however gave occalion to their propagation, not only as bigotry naturally difcovers prodigies, but as the fcene of a6tion was removed to a great diftance. The Reformation did not immediately arrive at its meridian^ and though day was gradually increaling upon us, the goblins of witchcraft Itill continued to hover in the twilight, In the time of Queen Elizabeth was the remarkable trial of the witches of Warbois, whofe convi6lIon is ftill commemorated in an annual fermon at Huntingdon. But in the reign of King James, in which this tragedy was written, many circumftances concurred to propagate and confirm this opinion. I'he King, who was much celebrated for his knowledge, had, before his arrival in P2ngland, not only examined In perfon a woman ac- cuted of witchcraft, but had given a very formal account of the pra6ticcs and illufions of evil fpirits, the compacts of witches, the ceremonies ufed by them, the manner of detefting them, and the juftice of punilliing them, in his dialogues of Da;mnno-. logie, written in the Scottllb diale6t, and publilhed at Edinburgh. This book was, foon after his fucceffion, reprinted at London, and as the ready way to gain King James's favour was to flatter his fpeculations, the fyftem of Datmonologie was immediately adopted by all who defired either to gain preferment or not to lofe it. Thus the dodrine of \^ itchcraft was very powerfully inculcated 5 and as the greateft part of mankind have no other reafon for their opinions than that they are In fallilon, it cannot be doubted but this perfualion made a rapid progrefs, fince vanity and credulity co-operated In its favour. The infeftlon foon reached the parliament, who, in tlie tirft year of King James, made a law, by which it was ena6ted, chap. xli. That " if any perfon fhall ufe any invocation or conjuration of any evil or wicked fplrit j 2. or iliall confult, covenant with, enter-r tain, employ, feed or reward any evil or curfed fplrit to or for any intent or purpofe ; 3. or take up any dead man, woman, or child, out of the grave, — or the Ikin, bone, or any part of the dead perfon, to be employed or ufed in any manner of witch- Craft, forcery, charm, or enchantment; 4. or fliall ufe, prac- tife, or exercife any fort of witchcraft, forcery, charm, or en- chantment; 5. whereby any perfon fliall be deftroyed, killed, wafted, confumed, pined, or lamed in any part of the body ; 6. That every fuch perfon being convicted fliall fufFer death." This law was repealed in our own time. Thus, in the time of Shakfpeare, was the doftrine of witch- craft at once eftabliflied by law and by the fafliion, and it be- came not only unpolite, but criminal, to doubt it ; and as pro- digies are always feen in proportion as they are expe6led, Avitches were every day difcovered, and multiplied fo faft in fome places, that Bifliop Hall mentions a village in Lancafliire,* where their number was greater than that of tlie houfes. The jefuits and fe<5taries took advantage of this univerfal error, and endeavoured to promote the Intereft of their parties by pretended cures of perfons afflicted by evil fpirits ; but they were detefted and ex- pofed by the clergy of the eftabliflied church. Upon this general infatuation Shakfpeare might be eafily al- lowed to found a play, efpecially lince he has followed with great exaftnefs fuch hillories as were then thought true ; nor can it be doubted that the fcenes of enchantment, however they may now be ridiculed, were both by himfelf and his audience thought awful and afteiSting. Johnson. In the qoncluding paragraph of Dr. Johnfon's admirable intro- duftion to this play, he feems apprehenfive that the fame of Shakfpeare's magic may be endangered by modern ridicule. I fliall not, hefitate, however, to predict its fecurity, till our national tafte is wholly corrupted, and we no longer deferve the firft of all dramatic enjoyments; for fuch, in my opinion at leaft, is the tragedy of Macbeth. Steevexs. Malcolm II. King of Scotland, had two daughters. The eldeft was married to Crynin, the father of Duncan, Thane of the Ifles, and weftern parts of Scotland ; and on the death of * \\\'i\-d.\h€s, Lenten Stuff, 1599, it is faid, thatnokfs than fix hundred witches were executed at one time: " — it is evident, by the confeffion ot the fix hundred Scotch witclies executed in Scotland at Bartholomew tide was twelve month, that in Yarmouth roatl they were all together in a plump on Chriftmas eve was two years, when the great flood was ; and there llirred up fuch tornadoes and furicanocs of teinpefls, as will be fpoken of there whilft any winds or ftorms and tcmpcfis chafe and puff in the lower region." Reed. B3 •Malcolm, without male iffue, Duncan iucceeded to the throne. Malcolm's fecond daughter was married to Sinel, Thane of Glamis, the father of Mr.cbeth. Duncan, who married the daughter * of Siward, Earl of Northumberland, was murdered by his ctjufin german, Macbetli, in the caftle of Invernefs, ac- cording to Buchanan, in the year 1040 ; according to Heftor Boetliius, in 1045. Boethius, Avhofe Hiftory of Scotland was firil printed in feventeen books, at Paris, in 1526, thus defcribea the event which forms the bafis of the tragedy before us : " Makbeth, be perfuafion of his wyfe, gaderit his friendis to ane counfall at Invernes, quhare kyng Duncane happennit to be for ye tyme. And becaufe he fand fufficient opportunitie, he fupport of Banquho and otheris his friendis, he flew kyng Dun- cane, the vii zeir of his regne." After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth " come with ane gret power to Scone, and tuk the crowne." Chroniclis of Scotland, tranllated by John Bellenden, folio, 1541. Macbeth was himfelf llain by Macdutf in the year 106l, according to Boethius j according to Buchanan, in 1057 j at which time King Edward the Confellbr poflefled the throne of England. Holinilied copied the hiftory of Boelhius, and on Holinflied's relation Shakfpeare formed his play. In the reign of Duncan, Banquo having been plundered by the people of Lochaber of fome of the king's revenues, which he had collected, and being dangeroully wounded in the affray, the perfons concerned in this outrage were fummoned to appear at a certain day. But they flew the ferjca?it at arms who fum- moned them, and chofe one Macdowald as their captain. Macdo\\'ald fpeedily coUefted a confiderable body of forces from Ireland and the Weftern Ifles, and in one a£tion gained a viftory over the king's army. In this battle Malcolm, a Scottifli noble- man, who was (fays Boethius) " Lieutenant to Duncan in Lochaber," was llain. Afterwards INIacbeth and Banquo were appointed to the command of the army ; and Macdowald being obliged to take refuge in a caflle in Lochaber, hrft Hew his wife and children, and then himfelf. IVlacbeth, on entering the caftle, finding his dead body, ordered his head to be cut off, and carried to the king, at the caftle of Bertha, and his body to be hung on a high tree. At a fublequent period, in the laft year of Duncan's reign, Sueno, King of Norway, landed a powerful army in Fife, for the purpoft of invading Scotland. Duncan immediately allem- bled an army to oppofe him, and gave the command of two * the daughter — ] More probably the sisUr. See iicte on Th his dons. Donalbam, J T5 ' ' \ Generals of the KinsCs Armir. Banquo, -> j Z3 j Macduff, Lenox, M t' ffi ' Noblemen of Scotland. Angus, Cathnefs, Fieance, Son to Banquo. Si ward, Earl of Northumberland, General oj the Englifh Forces : Young Siward, his Son. Seyton, an Officer attending on Macbeth. Son to Macduff. An Engliifi Doctor. A Scotch Doctor. A Soldier. A Porter. An old Man. Lady Macbeth.^ Lady Macduff. Gentleivoman attending on Lady Macbeth. Hecate, and three JVitches.^ Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Mejfengers. The Ghoji o/" Banquo, and fevered other Apparitions. SCENE, in the End of the fourth Act, lies in England ; through the reft of the Play, in Scot- land ; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's Caftle. * Lady Macbeth.'] Her name was Gruach, filla Bodhe. Sec Lord Hailes's Annals of Scotland, II. 332. Ritson. Androw of IVyntown, in his Cronykil, informs us that this perfonage was the widow of Duncan ; a circumftance with which Shakfpeare muft have been wholly unacquainted : " Dame Grwok, hys Emys wyf, *' Tuk, and led wytii hyr his lyf, " And held hyr bathe hys Wyf and Qweyne, " As befor than fcho had beyne " Til hys Erne Qwene, lyvand " Quhen he was Kyng wyth Crowne rygnand : ** For lytyl in honowre tlian had he '^ The greys of affynyte." B. VI. 35. From the incidents, however, with which Heftor Boece has diverfified the legend of Macbeth, our poet derived greater ad- vantages than he could have found in the original ftory, as re- lated by Wyntown. The 18th Chapter of his Cronykil, Book VI. together with obfervations by its accurate and learned editor, will be fubjoined to this tragedy, for the fatisfadtion of inquiiitive readers. Steevens. * three Witches.'] As the play now ftands, in A6t IV, fc. i. three other witches make their appearance. See note ihereon. Steevens. }^I A C B E T H. ACT I. SCENE I. An open Place. Thunder and Lis:htnins^. Enter three Witches. 1 IFiTCH. When fhall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain ? 2 Witch. When the hurlyburly's done,' When the battle's loft and won : =* * hurlylurly's — ] However mean this word may feem to modern ears, it came recommended to Shakfpeare by the authority of Henry Peachara, who, in the year 157/, pub- lilhed a book profelling to treat of the ornainenls of language. It is called The Garden of Elocjuence, and has this pallage : " Ouomatopeia, when we invent, devife, fayne, and make a name intimating the fownd of that it lignifyeth, as hurliburly, for an uprore and tumultuous Jtirre." Henderson. So, in a tranflation of Herodian, 12mo. l635, p. 20: " there was a mighty hurJy burly in the campe," &c. Again, p. 324 : " great hurliburUes being in all parts of the em- pire," &c. Reed. ^ IVhen the battle" x loji andn-on ;] i. e. the battle, in which Macbeth was then engaged. Warbukton. So, in King Richard III : " while we realbn here, " A royal battle might be u-on and Iq/i."'' So alfo Speed, fpeaking of the battle of Towton : '^ — by which only Itratagem, as it was conltantly averred, the battle 2iid day wds loji and won.^' Ch'onicle, lOll. Malone. i2 MACBETH. 3 JViTCH. That will be ere fet of fun. 5 J fViTCH. Where the place ? 2 J Fitch. Upon the heath i 3 tViTCH, There to meet with Macbeth.'^ ' ere fet of fun.'] The old copy unneceflarily and harftily reads — ere tlie fet of fun. Steevens. "* There to meet with Macheth.'] Thus the old copy. Mr, Pope, and, after him, other editors ; There I go to meet Macheth. The infertion, however, feems to be injudicious. To vieet with Macheth was the final drift of all the Witches in going to the heath, and not the particular bufinefs or motive of any one of them in diftinttion from the reft ; as the interpolated words, / go, in the mouth of the tliird Witch, would moft certainly imply. Somewhat, however, (as the verfe is evidently imperfeil;,) muft have been left out by the tranfcriber or printer. Mr, Capell has therefore propofed to remedy this defeft, by- reading — There to meet with brave Macbeth. But furely, to beings intent only on mifchfef, a foldier's bravery, in an honeit caufe, would have been no fiibje6t of en- cominra^ Mr. Malone (omitting all previous remarks, Src, on this paf- fage) alTures us, that — " There is here ufed as a diflyllable." I wifti he had fupported his aifertion by fome example. Thofe, however, who can fpeak tlie line thus regulated, and fuppofe they are reciting a verie, may profit by tlie direction tliey have received. The pronoun " their," having two vowels together, may be Iplit into tvvo fyllables j but the adverb " there" can only be ufed as a monofyllable, unlcfs pronounced as if it were written " the- re," a licence in which even Chaucer has not indulged timfelf. It was convenient for Shakfpeare's fntrodu6Vory fcene, that his firft Witch ihould appear u::inftru(5ted in her million. Had ihe not required information, the audience mult have remained ignorant of what it was necelTary for them to know. Her fpeeches, therefore, proceed in the form of interrogatories ; but, all on a fudden, an anfwcr is given to a quei^ion which had not been alked. Here feems to be a chafm, which I fliall attempt MACBETH. IS I Witch. I come^ Graymalkin ! 5 All. Paddock calls : — Anon.^ — to fupply by the introdu6tlon of a fingle pronoun, and by dif- tribating the hitherto mutilated line among the three Ipeakers : 3 JFitch. There to meet with — 1 mich. mom? 2 JVitch. Macbeth. Diftin6l replies have now been afforded to the three neceflary enquiries — JVhen — JFIwrc — and JFhovi the Witches were to meet. Their conference receive? no injury from xny infertion and arrangement. Or) the contrary, the dialogue becomes more regular and confiftent, as each of the hags will now have fydktn thrice (a magical number) before they join in utterance of the concluding words, which relate only to themfelves. — I ihould add that, in the two prior inftances, it is alfo the fecond Witch who furnifties decisive and material anfwers ; and that I would give the words — " I come, Graymalkin !" to the third. By aflitiance from fuch of our author's plays as had been pub- lifhed in quarto, we have often deteded more important errors in the folio 1023, which, unluckily, fuppJies the moll ancient copy of Macbeth. Steevens. ■Graymalkhi!'\ From a little black-letter book, en- titled. Beware the Cat, 1584, I find it was permitted to a Witch to take on her a cattes lody nine times. Mr. Upton ob- ferves, that, to underltand this palfage, we Ihould fuppofe one familiar calling with the voice of a cat, and another with the croaking of a toad. Again, in Neives from Scotland, &c. (a pamphlet of which the reader will tind the entire title in a future note on this play) : " Moreover the confelfed, that at the time when his majeffie was in Denmnrke, fliee beeing accompanied with the parties before fpecially mentioned, tooke a cat and chriftened it, and afterward bound to each part of that cat the cheefelt part of a dead man, and feveral joyntes of his bodie, and that in the night following the faid cat was convayed into the middeft of the fea by all thefe witches fayling in their riddles or cives as is aforefaid, and fo left the faid cat right before the towne of Leith in Scotland. This donne, there did ariie fuch a tempeil in the fea, as a greater hath not bene fcene," &:c. Steevexs. ^ Paclduck calls : — &c.] This, with the two following lines, is given in the folio to the three Witches. Some preceding edi- tors have appropriated the lirft of them to the fecond Witch. 14 MACBETH. Fair is foul, and foul is fair : ' Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Witches vamjii. According to the late Dr. Goldfmith, and Ibme other na- turalifts, a Jrog is called a paddock in the North ; as in the fol- lowing inftance, in Ccefar and Poiiipey, by Chapman, 160/ : " Paddockes, todes, and waterfnakes." Again, in JVyntownis Cronyhil, B. I. c. xiii. 55 : " As allc, or eddyre, tade, or pade." In Shakfpeare, however, it certainly means a toad. The re- prefentation of St. James in the witches' houfe (one of the fet of prints taken from the painter called Hellijli Breugel, 1566,) exhibits witches flying up and down the chimney on brooms ; and before the fire fit grimalkin and paddock, i. e. a cat, and a toad, with feveral hahoons. There is a cauldron boiUng, with a witch near it, cutting out the tongue of a fnake, as an in- gredient for the charm, A reprelentatiou fomewhat fimilar likewife occurs in Newesfrom Scotland, &c. a pamphlet already quoted. Steevens. " -Some fay, they [witches] can keepe devils and fpirits, in the likenefs of todes and cats." Scot's Difcovery of Witch- craft, [1584] Book I. civ. ToLLET. ' Fair is foul, and foul is fair ;] i. e. we make thefe fudden changes of the weather. And Macbeth, fpeaking of this day, 'foon after fays : So^foul and fair a day I have not feen. Warburton. The common idea of witches has always been, that they had abfolute power over the weather, and could raife ftorms of any kind, or allay them, as tliey pleafed. In conformity to tliis no- tion, Macbeth addrelfes them, in the fourth A£t : Though yon untie the icinds, Sec. Steevexs. I believe the meaning is, that to us, perverfe and malignant as we are, fair is foul, and foul is fair. Johnson. This expreflion feems to have been proverbial. Spenfer has it in the 4th Book of the Fairy Queen : " Then fair grew foul, and foul grciv fair in fight," Farmeh. MACBETH, JS SCENE II. ^ Camp near Fores, jllanun, luilhin. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, DoNALBAiN, Lenox, with Attoulants, meeting a bleeding Soldier. Dun. What bloody man is that ? He can report. As feemeth by his plight, of the revolt The neweft ftate. Mjl. This is the fergeant,^ Who, like a good and hardy foldier, fought 'Gainit my captivity : — Hail, brave friend ! ' This is the fergeant,] Holinftied is the beft interpreter of Shaklpeare in his hiiiorical plays ; for he not only takes his fads from him, but often his very words and expreflions. That hiftorian, in his account of Macdowald's rebellion, mentions, that on the firft appearance of a mutinous fpirit among the peo- ple, the king fent a fergeant at arms into the country, to bring lip the chief offenders to anfwer the charge preferred agalntl them ; but they, inftead of obeying, viifiifed the meffenger with fundry reproaches, and finally Jleju him. This fergeant at arms is certainly the origin of the bleeding fergeant introduced on the prefent occafion. Shakfpeare juft caught tlie name from Holinrtied, but the reft of the ftory not fuiting his purpofe, he does not adhere to it. The ftage-direftion of entrance, where tlie bleeding captain is mentioned, was probably the work of the player editors, and not of the poet. Sergeant, however, (as the ingenious compiler of the GlofTary to A. of IVifntowifs Cronykil obferves,) is " a degree in military fervice now unknown." " Of fergeandys thare and knychtis kene " He gat a gret cumpany." B. VHI. ch. xxvi. v. 396. The fame word occurs again in the fourth Poem of Lawrence Minot, p. 19: " He hafted him to the fwin, with fergantes fnell, " To mete with the Normandes that fals war and fell." According to M. le Grand, (fays Mr, Ritfon) fergeants were a fort of gens d'armes. Steeyens. 16 MACBETH. Say to the king the knowledge of the broil. As thou didft leave it. Sold. Doubtfully it flood ; 9 As two Ipent fwimmers, that do cling together. And choke their art. The mercilefs Macdonwald^ (Worthy to be a rebel ; for, to thatj= The multiplying villainies of nature Do fwarm upon him,) from the weftern ifles Of Kernes and GallowglaiTes is fupplied ; ^ ^ Doultfully it Jtood;'] Mr. Pope, who introduced the epithet lung, to aflift the metre, and reads— ^ Doubtful long it Jl<,ud, has thereby injured the fenle. If the comparifon was meant to coincide in all circijmftances, the llruggle. could not be long, I read — DouhtfiiUy it ftood ; The old copy has — Doubtfull — io that my addition confifts of but a fingle letter. Stebvens. * Macdonwald — ] Thus the old copy. According to Holinflied we thould read — Macdowald. Steevens, So alfo the Scottifli Chronicles. However, it is polhble that Shakfpeare might have preferred the name that has been fub- llituted, as better founding. It appears from a fubfequent Icene that he had attentively read Holinfhed's account of the murder of King Duff, by Bonwald, Lieutenant of the caftle of Fores 5 in confer] uence of which he might, either from inad-- vertence, or choice, have here written — MacdcmwaUl. Malone. ' to that, &c.] i. e. in addition to tliat. So, in Troilus and Creffida, Act I. fc. i : " The Greeks are ftrong, and Ikilful to their ftrength, •' Fierce to their Jkill, and to their fiercenefs valiant." The Ibldier who defcribes Macdonwald, feems to mean, that, in addition to his qffiuned charaffer of rebel, he abounds with the numerous enormities to which man, in his natural Jiate, is liable. Steevens. ^ from the wefiern ijles Of kernes and Gallowglqffes is fupplied ;'] Whether fup- plied of, iox fupplied from or with, was a kind of Grecifm of ShakCpeare's expreliion } or whether of be a corruption of the MACBETH. 17 And fortune, on his damned quarrel rmiling,'^ editors, who took Kernes and GaUowglqffes, which were only- light and heavy armed foot, to be the names of two of tlic Weftern iflands, I don't kno\y. " Hinc conjefturoe vigorera etiam adjiciunt arma qusedam ' Hibernica, Gallicis antiquis fimilia, jacola nlmiriim peditura levis armaturae quos Kernos vocant, nee non fecures i*c loric.-e ferrese peditum illorum gra- vioris armaturae, quos Gallog!aJ/ios appellant." Warcei Antiq. Hiler. cap. vi. Warburton. Of and with are indifcriminately ufed by our ancient writers. So, in The Spanijh Tragedy : " Peform'd of pl-^afure by your fon the prince." Again, in God's Revenge agninft Murder, hift. vi : "" Sypon- tus in the mean time is prepared of two wicked gondoliers," &c. Again, in The Hifiory of Helyas Knight of the Sun, bl. 1. no date : ** — he was well garnilhed of fpear, fword, and ar- moure," &c. Thefe are a few out of a thoufand inftances which might be brought to the fame purpofe. Kernes and Gallowglaffes are chara6ter!zed in The Legend of Roger Mortimer. See The Mirror for Magifirates : " — -■ — the Gallowglas, the Kerne, " Yield- or not yield, whom fo they take, they flay." See alfo Stanyhurft's Defcription of Ireland, ch. viii. fol. 28. HolinfJied, edit. 1577- Steevens. The old copy has Gallow-groJJes. Correfted by the editor of the fecond folio. Malone. * And fortune, on his damned quarrel fmiling,'] The old copy has — quarry ; but I am inclined to read quaml. QuaiTel was formerly ufed for caufe, or for the occafion of a quarrel, and is to be found in that fenfe in Holinilied's account of the ftory of Macbeth, who, upon the creati)U of the Prince of Cumberland, thought, fays the hiftorian, that he had a juft quarrel to endeavour after the crown. The fenfe therefore is. Fortune fmiling on his execrable caufe, &c. Johnson. The word quarrel occurs in Holinfhed's relation of this very fa6t, and may be regarded as a fufficient nroof of its hav'ng been the term here employed by Shakfpeare : " Out of the ■jpveftern ifles there came to Macdowald a great multitude of people, to afiift him in that rebellious quarrel." Befides, Mac- do wald's ^warry (i.e. game) muft have conf ""ted o{ Duncans friends, and would the fpeaker then have applied the epithet — damned to them ? and what have the fmiles of fortune to dc Vol. X. C 18 MACBETH. Show'd like a rebel's whore : 5 But all's too weak : For brave Macbeth, (well he deferves that name,) Difdaining fortune, with his brandifh'd Iteel, Which Imok'd with bloody execution, Like valour's minion, Carv'd out his paffiige, till he fac'd the flave ; ^ over a carnage, when we have defeated our enemies ? Her bufinels is then at an end. Her fmiles or frowns are no longer of any confequence. We only talk of thefe, while we are pur- fuing our quarrel, and the event of it is uncertain. The word — quarrel, in the fame fenfe, occurs alfo in MS. HarL 469O : " Thanne fir Edward of Bailoll towke his leve oft' king Edwarde, and went ayenne into Scottelonde, and was fo grete a lorde, and fo moche had his wille, that he touke no hede to hem that halpe him in his quarelle ;" &c. Steevens. The reading propofed by Dr. Johnfon, and his explanation of it, are ftrongly fupported by a palTage in our author's King John : " And put his caufe and quarrel " To the difpofing of the cardinal." Again, in this play of Macbeth : " and the chance, of goodnefs, " Be like our warranted quarrel.'' Here we have ivarranhd quarrel, the exaft oppofite of damned quarrel, as the text is now regulated. Lord Bacon, in his EJJ'ays, ufes the word in the fame fenfe : "Wives are young men's miflreffes, companions for middle age, and old men's nurfes ; fo as a man may have a qicarrel to marry, when he will." Malone. 5 Show'd lihe a rebel's whore :~\ I fuppofe the meaning is, that fortune, while fhe fmiled on him, deceived him. Shak- fpeare probably alludes to Macdowald's firft fuccefsful adion, elated by which he attempted to purfue his fortune, but loft his life. Malone. *' Like valour s minion, Carv'd out his pajfage, till he facd the ,Jlave ;"] The old copy reads — Like valour s minion, carv'd out his pajfage Till he fac'd the Jlave. As an hemiftich muft be admitted, it feems more favourable to the metre that it fliould be fouud where it is now left. — MACBETH. 19 And ne'er {hook hands j^ nor bade farewell to hitn, Till he unfeam'd him from the nave to the chaps,* And fix'd his head upon our battlements. Till he facd the Jlave, could never be defigned as the be- ginning of a verfe, if harmony were at all attended to in its conftru6tion. Steevens, Lihe valour s minion,] So, in King John : " fortune Iball cull forth, " Out of one fide, her happy minion." Malone. ' And ne'er Jliook hands, &c.] The old copy reads — Which nev'r. Jliook hands — ] So, in King Henry VI. P. Ill : " Till our King Henry had Jhook hands with death." Steevens. Mr. Pope, inftead of which, here, and in many other places, reads — who. But there is no need of change. There is fcarcely one of our author's plays in which he has not ufed which for who. So, in The Winter s Tale : " — the old fhep- herd, which ftands by," &c. Malone. The old reading — Which never, appears to indicate that fome antecedent words, now irretrievable, were omitted in the play- houfe manufcript ; unlefs the compofitor's eye had caught which from a foregoing line, and printed it inftead of And. Which, in the prefent inftance, cannot well have been fubftituted for who, becaufe it will refer to the Jlave Macdonwald^ inftead of his conqueror Macbeth. Steevens. ^ he unjeaw'd him Jrom the nave to the chaps,'] We feldom hear of fuch terrible crofs blows given and received but by giants and mifcreants in Amadis de Gaule. Befides, it muft be a ftrange aukward flxoke that could unrip him upwards from the navel to the chaps. But Shakfpeare certainly wrote : he unfeamd him Jrom the nape to the chaps. i. e. cut his Ikull in two ; which might be done by a High- lander's fword. This was a reafonable blow, ancivery naturally exprefled, on fuppofing it given when the head of the wearied combatant was reclining downwards at the latter end of a long duel. For the nape is the hinder part of the neck, where the vertelrce join to the bone of the ikull. So, in Coriolanus : " O ! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks." The word imfeamed likewife becomes very proper, and alludes C2 20 MACBETH. Dun, O, valiant coiilin ! worthy gentleman ! Sold. As whence the fun 'gins his reflexion ^ to the future which goes crofs the crown of the head in that dire6tion called the futura fagittalis; and which, confequently, muft be opened by fuch a ftroke. It is remarkable, that Milton, who in his youth read and imitated our poet much, particularly in his Comus, was misled by this corrupt reading. For in the manufcript of that poem, in Trinity-College library, the follow- ing lines are read thus : '' " Or drag him by the curls, and cleave his fcalpe " Down to the hippes." An evident imitation of this corrupted paflage. But he altered it witli better 3udgn:>ent to — " to a foal death *' Curs'd as his life." Warburton. The old reading rs certainly the true one, being juftified by a paflage in Dido Queene of Carthage, by Thomas Nafh, 1594: *' Then from the 7iavel to the throat at once " He ript old Priam." So Hkewife in an ancient MS. entitled The Boke of Huntyng, that is cleped Mayjter of Game : Cap. V. " Som men haue fey hym ilitte a man fro the kne up to the breji, and flee hym all ftarke dede at o ftrok." Steevens. Again, by the following paflfage in an unpubliflied play, en- titled The Witch, by Thomas Middleton, in which the fame wound is defcribed, though the ftroke is reverfed : *' Draw it, or I'll rip thee down from neck to navel, " Though there's fmall glory int." Malone, ^ J.s whence the fun 'gins his reflexion — ] The thought is cxprelfed with fome obfcurity, but the plain meaning is this : As the fame quarter, tvhence the llefflng of day -light arifet, fometimes fends us, ly a dreadful reverfe, the calamities of fiorjns and tetnpefts ; fo the glorious client of Macheth's viSiory, which proniifed us the comforts of peace, teas immediately fiic- reeded by the alarming news of the Norwcyan inrajion. The natural hiftorj'' of the winds, &rc. is foreign to the explanation of this paflage. Shakfpeare does not mean, in conformity to any Theory, to fay that ftorms generally come from the eaft. If it be allowed that they fometimes ilfue from that quarter, it is fuflScient for the piirpofe of his comparifon. Steevens. The ruitural hiftory of the winds, &c. was idly introduced on this occalion by Dr. Warburton. Sir William D'Avenant's MACBETH. 24- Shipwrecking ftorms and direful thunders break ; * So from that fpring, whence comfort feem'd to come, Difcomfort fwells.^ Mark, king of Scotland, mark : No fooner juflice had, with valour arm'd, Compeird thefe Ikipping Kernes to truft their heels; But the Norweyan lord, furveying vantage, With furbifh'd arms, and new fupplies of men, Began a frefh aflault. Dun. Difmay'd not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ? Sold. Yes ; 3 reading of this palFage, in an alteration of this play, publifhed in quarto, in 16/4, aftbrds a reafonably good comment upon it : " But then this day-break of our vi6tory " Serv'd but to light us into other dangers, " That fpring from whence our hopes did feem to rife." Malone. * thunders break;] The word breah is wanting in the oldeft copy. The other folios and Rowe read — Ireaking. Mr, Pope made the emendation, Steevens. Break, which was fuggefted by the reading of the fecond folio, is very unlikely to have been the word omitted in the original copy. It agrees with thunders ; — but who ever talked of the breaking of a ftorm ? Malone. The phrafe, I believe, is fufficiently common. Thus Dryden, In J II for Love, &c. A6t I : " the Roman camp " Hangs o'er us black and threat'ning, like a Jiorvi " Jufl; breaking o'er our heads. ' Again, in Ogilby's verlion of the l/th Iliad : " He6tor oer all an iron tempeft fpreads, *' Th' impending y/o?-»i will break upon our heads." Steevens. * Difcomfort fwells.'] Difcomfort the natural oppofite to confort. Johnson. ^ Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo-, Sold. Yes(] The readei cannot fail to obferve, that fome word, neceflary to complett C3 22 MACBETH. As fparrows, eagles ; or the hare, the lion. If I fay footh, I muft report they were As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks ; * So they Doubly redoubled ftrokes 5 upon the foe : the verfe, has been omitted in the old copy. Sir T. Kanmef reads — Our captains, hrave Macbeth, Sec. Steevens. * As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks; &c.] That is^ with double charges ; a metonymy of the effe€t for the caufe. Heath. Mr, Theobald has endeavoured to improve the fenfe of thi§ paflage, by altering the pun6tuation thus : . they 71' ere As cannons overcharged ; with double cracks So they redoubled ftrokes . He declares, with fome degree of exultation, that he has no idea of a cannon charged with double cracks ; but furely the great author will not gain much by an alteration which makes him fay of a hero, that he redoubles Jir ok es ?vith double cracks, an expreflion not more loudly to be applauded, or more eafily pardoned, than that which is rejefted in its favour. That a cannon is charged with thunder, or with double thun- ders, may be written, not only without nonfenfe, but with ele- gance, and nothing elfe is here meant by cracks, which, in the time of this writer, was a word of fuch emphalis and dignity, that in this play he terms the general dilfolution of nature the crack of doom. Johnson. Crack is ufed on a fimilar occafion by Barnaby Googe, in his Cupido Conquered, 1563 : " The canon's cracke begins to roore " And darts full thycke they flye, " And cover'd thycke the armyes both, " And framde a counter -fkye." Barbour, the old Scotch Poet, calls fire-arms — " crakys of war." Steevens. Again, in the old play of King John, 1591, and applied, as here, to ordnance : " as harmlefs and without effeft, " As is the echo of ^ cannon's crack." Malone. 5 Doubly redoubled ftrokes &c.] So, \n King Richard II : " And let thy blows, doubly redoubled, " Fall," &c. MACBETH. 23 Except they meant to bathe in reekhig wounds, Or memorize another Golgotha,^ I cannot tell : But I am faint, my gafhes cry for help. Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds ; They fmack of honour both : — Go, get him fur- geons. \_Eiit Soldier, attended. The irregularity of the metre, however, induces me to believe our author wrote — they iverc As cannons ovcrcharg'd with doulle cracks. Doubly redoubl'mg Jirokes upon the foe. For this thought, however, Shaklpeare might have been in- debted to Caxton's Recuyel, &c. " The batayll was fliarp, than the grekes doivlLid and redowblid their Jirokes," &c. Steevens. * Or memorize another Golgotha,'] That is, or make another Golgotha, which fliould be celebrated and delivered down to pollerity, with as frequent mention as the firft. Heath. The word memorize, which fome fuppofe to have been coined by Shakfpeare, is ufed by Spenfer, in a fonnet to Lord Buck- Jiurft, prefixed to his Pajiorals, \5JQ : " In vaine I thinke, right honourable lord, " By tliis rude rime to memorize thy name." T. Warton. The word is likewife ufed by Drayton ; and by Chapman, in his tranflation of the fecond Book of Homer, I5g8 : " which let tliy thoughts be fure to memorize.'^ Again, in the third Iliad : " ^and Clymene, whom fame " Hatli, for her fair eyes, memorizd." And again, in a copy of verfes prefixed to Sir Arthur Gorges's tranflation of Lucan, l6l4 : " Of them whofe afts tliey mean to memorize." Steevjbns, C4 24 MACBETH. Enter Rosse.' Who comes here ? ^ Mal. The worthy thane of Rofle. Len. What a hafte looks through his eyes ! So fhould he look, That feems to fpeak things ftrange.9 7 Enter Rofle.] The old copy — Enter Rofle and Angus : but as only the name of Roffe is fpoken to^ or fpeaks any thing in the remaining part of this fcene, and as Duncan expreffes himfelf in the lingular number, — " Whence cam'ft thou, wortliy thane ?" Angux may be conlidered as a fuperfluous chara6ter. Had his prefent appearance been defigned, the King would naturally have taken feme notice of him. Steevens. It is clear, from a fubfequent paflage, that the entry of Angus was here defigned ; for in fcene iii. he again enters with PiOli'e, and fays, — " — — IVe are fent ** To give thee from our royal mafter thanks." Malone, Becaufe Rojfe and Angus accompany each other in a fubfe- quent fcene, does it follow that they make their entrance toge- ther on tlie prefent occafion ? Steevens. ^ Who comes here ?] The latter word is here employed as a diffyllable. Malone. Mr, Malone has already direfted us to read — There — as a diffyllable, but without fupporting his diredion by one example of fuch a pra6tice. I fufpeiSt that the poet wrote — Who is't comes here ? or — But who comes here ? Steevens. ' —— So Jliould he looh, That feems to /peak things JlrangeJ] The meaning of this paffage, as it now flands, is, fo JJiould he look, that looks as if he told things Jlrange. But Roffe neither yet told ftrange things, nor could look as if he told them, Lenox only con- jeftured from his air that he had Itraiige things to tell;, and therefore undoubtedly faid ■ MACBETH. 25 RossE. God fave the king ! Dun. Whence cam'fl: thou, worthy thane ? RossE. From Fife, great king^ Where the Norweyan banners flout the Iky,* JVliat a hq/fe looks through his eyes/ So Jliould he look, that teems to /peak things Jlrange, He looks like one that is big with fomething" of importance ; a metaphor fo natural that it is every day uied in common dif- courfe. Johnson. Mr, M. Mafon obferves, that the meaning of Lenox is, *' So Ihould he look, who feems as if he had ftrange things to fpeak," The following paflage in The Tempefi feems to afford no unapt comment upon this : " ' pr'ythee, fay on : *' The fetting of thine eye and cheek, proclaim " A matter from thee — ." Again, in King Richard II : *' Men judge by the complexion of the fky, 8:c. " So may you, by my dull and heavy eye, " My tongue hath but a heavier tale to fay." Steevens. That feems to fpeak things Jlrange.'] i. e. that feems about to fpeak ftrange things. Our author himfelf furnifhes us with the beft comment on this paflage. In Antony and Cleopatra we meet with nearly tlie fame idea : " The bufinefs of this man looks out of him." Malone. ^ ■■ flout tlie Jky,] The banners may be poetically de- fcribed as waving in mockery or defance of the Iky. So, in King Edward III. ISQQ : " And new rcplenifli'd pendants cuff the air, '' And beat the wind, that for their gaudinefs '' Struggles to kifs them," The fenfc of the paflage, however, colleftively taken, is this : Where the triumphant f utter of the Norweyan Jiandarch ventilates or cools the foldiers who had been heated through their efforts to fecure fuch numerous trophies of viSiory. Steevens. Again, in King John : " Mocking the air, with colours idly fpread." This paflage has perhaps been mifunderftood. The meaning feems to be, not that the Norweyan banners proudly infulted 26 MACBETH. And fan our people cold.^ Norway himfelF, with terrible numbers, Affiited by that moft difloyal traitor The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a difmal confli6l : Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,^ Confronted him with felf-comparifons,4 Point againft point rebellions, arm 'gainft arm. Curbing his lavifh fpirit : And, to conclude. The vidlory fell on us ; the flcy ; but that, the ftandards being taken by Duncan's forces, and fixed in the ground^ the colours idly flapped about, ferving only to cool the conquerors, inftead of being proudly difplayed by their former poffelfors. The line in King John, therefore, is the moft perfe6t comment on this. Ma lone. * And fan our people cold.'] In all probability, fome words tliat rendered this a complete verfe have been omitted ; a lofs more frequently to be deplored in the prefent tragedy, than perhaps in any other of Shakfpeare. Steevens. ^ Till that Bellona'i bridegroom, lapt in proof,] lliis paf- fage may be added to the many others, which ihow how little Shakfpeare knew of ancient mythology. Henley. Our author might have been influenced by Hohnfhed, who, p. 5Q7, fpeaking of King Henry V. fays : " He declared that the goddefle of battell, called BeUona," &c. &c. Shakfpeare, therefore, hallily concluded that the Goddefs of War was wife to the God of it 5 or might have been misled by Chapman's verfion of a line in the oth Iliad of Homer : •Mars himfelf, match'd with his female mate. " The dread Bellona :■ Lapt in proof , is, defended by armour of proof. Steevens. ■* Confronted him with felf-comparifons,'] By him, in this verfe, is meant Norway ; as the plain confl;ru6lion of the Englilli requires. And the afliftance the tharie of Cawdor had given Norway, was underhand ; (which Rolfe and Angus, in- deed, had difcovered, but was unknown to Macbeth ;) Cawdor being in the court all this while, as appears from Angus's fpeech to Macbeth, when he meets him to falute him with the title, and infinuates his crime to be lining the rebel with hidden help and 'vantage. ivith felf-comparifons,] 1. e. gave him as good as he brought, fliew'd he was his equal. Warburton. MACBETH. 27 Dun. Great happinefs ! RossE. That now Sweno, the Norvvays' king,5 craves compofition ; Nor would we deign him burial of his men, Till he difburfed, at Saint Colmes' inch,^ Ten thoufand dollars to our general ufe. Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor (hall de- ceive Our bofom intereil : — Go, pronounce his death,? And with his former title greet Macbeth. 5 That now Sweno, the Nortvays' king,'] The prefent irregularity of metre induces me to believe that — Sweno was only a marginal reference, injudicioufly thruft into the text } and that the line originally flood thus : That now the Norwai/s' king craves compojition. Could it have been neceffary for Rofle to tell Duncan the name of his old enemy, the king of Norway ? Steevens. ^ Saint Colmes' inch,] Colmes is to be confidered as a diflyllable. Colmes" -inch, now called Inchcomh, is a Imall ifland lying in the Firth of Edinburgh, with an abbey upon it, dedicated to St. Columb ; called by Camden Inch Colm, or The Ifle of Co- lumla. Some of the modern editors, without authority, read — Saint Colmes'-kill Ijle : but very erroneoufly ; for Colmes' Inch, and Colm-kill, are two ditferent illands ; the former lying on the eaflern coafl, near the place where the Danes were defeated ; the latter in the weftern feas, being the famous lona, one of the Hebrides. Holinflied thus relates the whole circumftance : " The Danes that efcuped, and got once to their Jliips, ob teined oi Mzkhtih for a great fumme of gold, that fuch of their friends as were flaine, might be buried in Saint Colmes Inch. In memorie whereof many old fepultures are yet in the faid Inch, there to be feene graven with the armes of the Danes." Inch, or Injlie, in the Irllh and Erfe languages, fignifies an ifland. See Lhuyd's Archeeologia. Steevens. ' pronounce his death,'] The old copy, injurioufly to metre, reads — ■ pronounce his T^refent death. Steevens. 28 MACBETH. RossE. ril fee it done. Dun. What he hath loll, noble Macbeth hath won. [Exeunt. SCENE III. ^ Heath, Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 fViTCH. Where hall thou been, lifter ? 2 Witch. Killing fwine.^ 3 JViTCH. Sifter, where thou ? ^ 1 Witch. A failor's wife had chefnuts in her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd : — Give me, quoth I : * Killing Jivine.'] So, in a DeteSiioii of damnable Driftes praSiized by three Witches, Sec. arraigned at Chelmisforde in Ejjkr, 1579, bl. 1. 12mo. " — Item, alfo Ihe came on a tyme to the houl'e of one Robert Lathburie &rc. who diflyking her dealyng, fent her home emptie ; but prefently after her depar- ture, his hogges fell ficke and died, to the number of twentie." Steevens. ^ 1 Witch. JFhere hqfi thou been, fifter? 2 Witch. Killing f wine. 3 AVitch. Sifter, where thou .''] Thus the old copy ; yet 1 cannot help fuppoftng that thefe three fpeeches, coUedively taken, were meant to form one verfe, as follows : 1 IVilch. Where haft been, fifter ? 2 Witch. Killing fwine. 3 Witch. Where thou ? If my fuppofition be well founded, there is as little reafon for preferving the ufelefs thou in the firft line, as the repetition efjijier, in the third. Steevens. MACBETH. 29 Aroint thee, ivitch ! ' the rump-fed ronyon - cries.5 ' Aroint thee, iritch f] Aroint, or avauntj be gone. Pope. In one of the folio editions the reading is — Anoint thee, in a fenfe very confiftent with the common account of witches^ who are related to perform many fupernatural a6ts, by the means of unguents, and particularly to fly through the air to the places where they meet at their hellifli feftivals. In this fenfe, anoint thee, witch, will mean, aivay, witch, to your infernal aOhnbly. This reading I was inclined to favour, becaufe I had met with the word aroint in no other author ; till looking into Hearne's ColleBions, I found it in a very old drawing, tliat he has pub- liihed,* in which St. Patrick is reprefented vifiting hell, and putting the devils into great confufion by his prefence, of whom one, that is driving the damned before him with a prong, has a label ifl'uing out of his mouth with tliefe words, out out Arongt, of which the laft Ls evidently the fame with arointf and ufed in the fame fenfe as in this paifage. Johnson. Dr. Johnfon's memory, on the prefent occafion, appears to have deceived him in more than a tingle inftance. The fubjeft of the above-mentioned drawing is afcertained by a label affixed to it in Gothick letters. Irfus Chrijtus, refurgens a inortuis fpoliat infernum. My predecefTor, indeed, might have been misled by an uncouth abbreviation in the Sacred Name. The words — Out out arongt, are add relied to our Redeemer by Satan, who, the better to enforce them, accompanies them with a blafi: of the horn he holds in his right hand. Tartareum intendit cornu. If the inftrument he grafps in his left hand was meant for a prong, it is of lingular make. Ecce Jig?ium, Satan is not " driving the damned before him 3" nor is any * See Ectypa Faria &c. Studio et cura Thomce Hearne, &c. 1737. iJTE£VENS- 30 MACBETH. Her hufband's to Aleppo gone, niafter o'the Tiger i other daemon prefent to undertake that office. Redemption, not punifliment, is the lubject of the piece. This ftory of Chrift's exploit, in his defcenfus ad inferos, (as Mr. Tyrwhitt lias obferved in a note on Chaucer, 3512,) is taken from the Gofpel of Nicodemus, and was called by our anceftors the harrowinge of helle, under which title it was reprefented among the Chefter Whitfun Playes, MS. Harl. 2013. Rynt you, wilch, quoth Beffe Locket to her mother, is a nortli country proverb. The word is ufed again in King Lear : " And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee." Anoint is the reading of the folio 1664, a book of no au- thority, Steevens. * ^Ae rump-fed rowyow — ] The chief cooks in noble- men's families, colleges, religious houfes, hol'pitals, &c. anci- ently claimed the emokii^ients or kitchen fees of kidneys, fat, trotters, rujups, &rc. which they fold to the poor. The weird filter in this fcene, as an infult on the poverty of the woman who had called her witch, reproaches her poor abjeft ftate, as not being able to procure better provilion than offals, which are conlidered as the refufe of the tables of others. CoLEPEPER. So, in The Ordinance for the Government of Pritice Edivard, 1474, the following fees are allowed : " mutton's heads, the rumpcs of every beefe," &c. Again^ in The Ordinances of the Houfehold of George Duke of Clarence : ''; — tlie hinder flianke* of the mutton, witli the rumpc, to be feable." Again, in Ben Jonfon's Staple of News, old Penny-boy fays to the Cook : " And then remember meat for my two dogs ; " Fat flaps of mutton, kidneys, rumps," &c. Again, in JFit at feveral Weapons, by Beaumont and Fletcher : " A niggard to your commons, that you're fain " To fize your belly out with fhoulder fees, " With kidneys, rumps, and cues of Angle beer." In The Book of Haukynge, &c. (commonly called The Book of St. Albans) bl. 1. no date, among the proper terms ufed in kepyng of haukes, it is faid : " The hauke tyreth upon rumps" Steevens. ^ ronyon cries.'\ i. e. fcabby or mangy woman. Fr. rogneux, royne, fcurf. Thus Chaucer, in The Romaunt of the Rofe, p. 551 : MACBETH. 31 But in a fieve I'll thither fail,* And, like a rat without a tail,5 ■ her necke " Withouten blelne, or fcabbe, or roine." Shakfpeare ules the rubilantive again in The Merry Wives of Wind/or, and the adjeftive — roynijh, in As you like it. Steevens. ■ in a Jieve Fll thither fail,'] Reginald Scott, in his Difcovery of Witchcraft , 1584, fays it was believed that witciies *' could Tail in an egg Ihell, a cockle or mufcle lliell, through and under the tempettuous feas." Again, fays SirW.D'Avenant, , in his Albovine, lQ2Q : " He lits like a witch failing in a fieve." Again, in Newes from Scotland : Declaririg the damnable Lift' of Doctor Fian a notable Sorcerer, who was burned at Edinbrough in Januarie laji, \5Ql ; which Do6tor was Regijier to the DeviU, that fundrie Times preached at North Baricke Kirke, to a Number of notorious Witclies. With the true Exanmiation of the faid Doctor and Witches, as they uttered them in the Pnfence of the Scottijh King. Dfcovering hour they pretended to bewitch and drowne his Mojeftie in the Sea comming from Denviarke, with other fuch wonderful Matters as the like hath not bin heard at anie Time. Publfjhed accord-' ing to the Scottijh Copie. Printed for William Wright : ■ *' — and that all they together went to fea, each one in a riddle or cive, and went in the fame very fubftantially with flaggons of wine, making merrie and drinking by the way in the fame riddles or cives," &c. Dr. Farmer found the title of this fcarce pamphlet in an interleaved ropy of Mauifells Catalogue, &c. 1595, with additions by Archbiihop Harfenet and Thomas Baker the Antiquarian. It is almoft needlefs to mention that I have (ince met with the pamphlet itfelf. Steevens. 5 And, like a rat without a tail,] It fhould be remembered, (as it was the belief of tlie times,) that though a witch could alfume the form of any animal flie pleafed, the tail would Itill be wanting. The reafon given by fome of the old \^'riters, for fuch a defi- ciency, is, that though the hands and feet, by an ealy change, might be converted into the four paws of a beaft, there was Itill no part about a woman which corrcfponded with the length of tail common to almofl: all our four-footed creatures. Steevens. 32 MACBETH, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.« 2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind.'' 1 1 Witch. Thou art kind. 3 Witch. And I another. 1 Witch. I myfelf have all the other ; And the very ports they blow,^ All the quarters that they know ® I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. /' the Jliipman's card. Look what I have. Show vie, Jhow me.' Thus do go about, alout ; ] As I cannot help {uppofing this fcene to have been uniformly metrical when our author' wrote it, in its prefent Hate I fufpeft it to be clogged with inter- polations, or mutilated by omiflions. Want of correfponding rhymes to the foregoing lines, induce me to hint at vacuities which cannot be fupplied, and intrufions which (on the bare authority of conjefture) muft not be expelled. Were even the condition of modern tranfcripts for the ftage underftood by the public, the frequent accidents by which a poet's meaning is depraved, and his meafure vitiated, wt)uld need no illuftraton, Steevens. ' ril give thee a iv'uul.'] This free gift of a wind is to be confidered as an aft of iitlerly friendfliip, for witches were fup- pofed to fell them. So, in Summer s laji IVill and Teftamait, i60G : " ■ in Ireland and in Denmark both, " Witches for gold v/\\\ fell a man a wind, " Which in the corner of a napkin wrap'd, " Shall blow him fafe onto what coaft he will." Drayton, in his Mooncalf, fays the fame. It may be hoped/ however, that the conduft of our witches did not relemble tliat of one of their relations, as defcribed in an Appendix to the old tranflation of Marco Paolo, 15/ g : " — they demanded that he fhould give them, a winde; and he thewed, letting his handes lehinde, from ivlience the icind Jhould come," &c. Steevens. ' And the very ports they blow,'] As the word veri/ is here of no other ufe than to fill up the verfe, it is likely tliat Shak- fpeare wrote variow^, which might be eafily millaken for ver^/^ MACBETH. 33 I'the fhipman's card.^ I will drain him dry as hay : ^ Sleep {hall, neither night nor day, being either negligently read, haftily pronounced, or imperfeiSlly heard. Johnson. The very ports are the exa6t ports. Very is ufed here (as in a thoufand inftances which might be brought) to exprefs the declaration more emphatically. Inllead of ports, however, I had formerly read points ; but erroneoully. In ancient language, to blow fometimes means to blow upon. So, in Dumain's Ode in Loves Labours Loji : " Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow ; — ." i. e. blow upon them. We ftill fay, it blows Eaft, or Weft, without a prepofition. Stbevens. The fnbftituted word was firft given by Sir W. D'Avenant, who, in his alteration of this play, ha"s retained the old, while at the fame time he furnifhed Mr. Pope with the new, reading; " I myfelf have all the other. " And then from every port they blow, *' From all the points that feamen know." Malone. • the JJiipmayis cards'] So, in The Microcqfmos of John Davies, of Hereford, 4to. 1005 : " Befide the chiefe windes and collaterall " (Which are the windes indeed of chiefe regard) " Seamen obferve more, thirtie two in all, " All which are pointed out upon the carde." The card is the paper on which the winds are marked under the pilot's needle ; or perhaps the fea-chart, fo called in oar author's age. Thus, in The Loyal SubjeB, by Beaumont and Fletcher : " The card of goodnefs in your minds, that fliews you " When you fail falfe." Again, in Churchyard's Prayfe and Reporte of Maijler Marty ne Forhoijher's Voyage to Meta Incognita, &c. 12mo. bl.l. 15/8: " There the generall gaue a fpeciall card and order to his cap- taines for the pafling of the ftraites," &c. Steevens. ^ dry as hay:] So, Spenfer, in his Fairy Queen. B. III. c. ix : " But he h old and withered as hay.'' Steevens. Vol. X. D 34 MACBETH. Hang upon his pent-houfe lid ; ^ He fhall live a man forbid : 3 Weary iev'n-nights, nine times nine, Shall he dwindle/ peak, and pine : ^ Sleep ^fliall, neither night nor day, Hang upon his pent-houfe lid ;'] So, in The Miracles of MoJ'es, by Michael Drayton : " His brows, like two lleep pent-houfes, hung down " Over his eye-lids." There was an edition of this poem in l604, but I know not whether thefe lines are found in it. Drayton made additions and alterations in his pieces at every re-impreflion. Malone. ^ He JJiall live a man forbid :] i. e. as one under a curfe, an interdiction. So, afterwards in this play : " By his own interdiction ftands accurs''d." So, among the Romans, an outlaw's fentence was, Aquce {ff Ignis interdi£ti<) ; i. e. he was forbid the ufe of water and fire, which implied the nccejjity of lanijhment. Theobald. Mr. Theobald has very juflly explained forbid by accurfed, but without giving any reafon of his interpretation. To hid is originally to pray, as in this Saxon fragment : He \y jiip •j) bir *;j bote, &c. He is il^ife that prays and makes amends. As to for/.id therefore implies to prohibit, in oppofitlon to the word bid in its prefent fenfe, it lignifies by the fame kind of oppofition to anfe, when it is derived from the fame word in its primitive meaning, Johnson, To bid, in the fenfe of to pray, occurs in the ancient MS. romance of The Sowdon of Babyloyne, p. 78 : " Kinge Charles kneled adown " To kiffe the relikes fo goode, " And badde there an oryfon " To that lorde that deyde on rode." Aforbodin fellow, Scot, lignifies an unhappy one," Steevens, It may be added that " bitten and Fcrbieten, in the German, fignity to pray and to interdict." S. W, •* Shall he dwindle, isfc.} This mifchief was fuppofed to be put in execution by means of a waxen figure, which repre- fented the perfon who was to be confumed by flow degrees. So, in ^\'ebller■s Dutchifs of Maify, l623 : MACBETH. 35 Though his bark cannot be loll. Yet it fliall be tempeft-tofs'cl.s Look what I have. 2 Witch. Show me, (how me* 1 JViTCH. Here I have a pilot's thumb. Wreck' d, as homeward he did come. [Drum jvithin* , 3 Witch. A drum, a drum ; Macbeth doth come. '■'■ it waftes me more *' Than wer't my pi6ture fafliion'd out of wax, " Stuck with a magick needle, and then buried " In fome foul dunghill." So Holinfhed, fpeaking of the witchcraft praftifed to deftroy King Duffe : " — >— found one of the witches roafting upon a wooden broch an image of wax at the fire, relembling in each feature the king's perfon, &c. " for as the image did wafte afore the fire, fo did the bodie of tlie king break forth in fweat. And as for the words of the inchantment, they ferved to keep him ftill waking from Jleepe,'' &c. This may ferve to explain the foregoing paflage : " Sleep fliall neither night nor day " Hang upon his pent-houfe lid." See Vol. IV. p. 227, n. 4. Steevens. ^ Though his bark cannot be Inji, Yet itjhall be tempeft-tofs d.'] So, in A^eivesfrovi Scotland, ice. a pamphlet already quoted : " Againe it is confefTed, that the faid chriftened cat was the caufe of the Kinges Majefties JJiippe, at his coming forthe of Denmarke, had a contrarie tvinde to the reji of his fliippes then beeing in his companie, which thing was moll: ftraunge and true, as the Kinges Majeftie acknowledgeth, for when the reft of the fliippes had a faire and good winde, then was the winde contrarie and altogether againft his Majeftie. And further the fayde witch declared, that his Majeftie had never come fafely from the fea, if his faith had not prevayled above their ententions." To this circumftance per- haps our author's allufion is fufficiently plain. Steevens. D2 35 MACBETH, ^LL. The weird lifters^ hand in hand/ Pofters of the Tea and land. * The weird Jijlers, hand in hand,'] Thefe weird Jifters, were the Fates of the northern nations ; the three hand-maid* of Odin. Hce nomivantiir Valkyrice, quas fjuodvis ad prcelium Odinus mittit. Hce viros morti deftinant, et viBoriam guber' nant. Gunna, et Rota, et Parcarum minima SkiiUda : per aera et maria equitant femper ad viorituros eligendos ; et Ciedes in potejiafe halent, Bartholinus de Caufis contemptae k Danis adhuc Gentilibus mortis. It is for this reafon that Shak- fpeare makes them three ; and calls them, Pnjiers of the fea and land; and intent only upon death and mifchief. However, to give this part of his work the more dignity, he intermixes, with this Northern, the Greek and Roman fuperftitions ; and puts Hecate at the head of their enchantments. And to make it ftill more familiar to the common audience (which was always his point) he adds, for another ingredient, a fufficient quantity of our own country fuperftitions concerning witches ; their beards, their cats, and their broomfticks. So that his toitch-fcenes are like tlie charm they prepare in one of them ; where the ingredients are gathered from every thing Jhocking in the natural world, as here, from every thing alfurd in the moral. But as extrava- gant as all this is, the play has had the power to charm and be- witch every audience, from that time to this. Wakburton. JVierd comes from the Anglo-Saxon pyjnb, fatiim, and is ufsd as a fubftantive fignifying a prophecy by the tranflator of HeSior Boethius, in the year 1541, as well as for the De/Hnies, by Chaucer and Holinfhed. Of the weirdis gevyn to Makbctk and Banqhno, is the argument of one of the chapters, GaMiii' Douglas, in Bis tranflation of Virgil, calls the Parccn, the weird Jiflars ; and in yine verie excellent and deleSiabiU Treatife intituUt Philotus, quhairin we may perfave the greit Incon- venicjices that fallis out in the Mariage betiveene Age and Zouth, Edinburgh, l603, the word appears again : " How does the quheill of fortune go, " Quhat wickit wierd has wrocht our wo."* Again : " Quhat neidis Philotus to think ill, " Or zit his wierd to warie ?" The other method of fpelling [weyivard'] was merely ar blunder of the tranfcriber or printer. MACBETH, 37 Thus do go about, about ; Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine. And thrice again, to make up nine : Peace 1 — tlie ciiarm's wound up. Enter Macbeth and Banquo. Macs. So foul and fair a day I have not feen. Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores ? ^ — What are thefe. The Vcdkyri